« Last year Cape Town photographer Imraan Christian came to international attention when his images of South Africa’s #feesmustfall student protests spotlighted the continued ramifications of the apartheid on the country’s « born free » generation. In the months since the 23-year-old has become a prominent figure within the country’s new wave of political creatives who are bringing a sense of activism to every project, be it commercial or personal. »

« Now Steidl is publishing an 18-volume series over the coming year, “Santu Mofokeng Stories,” edited by Joshua Chuang and Mr. Mofokeng with the first book, “Train Church,” being shortlisted for a Rencontres d’Arles Book Award.

(…)

« ‘Train Church” is a good example of the kind of oblique, intimate narratives that people in the townships are familiar with but that wasn’t the typical narrative disseminated to the outside world during those tough times,” Mr. Chuang said. »

« Dossa was also the official photographer of Hubert Maga, Benin’s first president after independence from France in 1960. He can be made out on numbered negatives in a dark suit with tails receiving the French authorities at the governor’s palace in Porto-Novo on August 1, 1960 — independence day. Ogou maintains these are among only a few images of such ceremonies still in Benin. The others are in France’s national archives or private collections in Europe and the United States. « We have to save our heritage so the generations to come have an idea of the history of our people, » he said. As part of that plan, the huge collection has been digitised for a website aimed mainly at researchers — www.photoafricaine.org — before being sent to Benin’s national archives. »

« But what they really constitute is a local record: of Pietermaritzburg folk being and performing themselves, in a factory town at apartheid’s zenith.

We’re fortunate to see them at all. Moodley died in 1987; his relatives eventually sold a pile of negatives to a South African museum, but the curator only wanted those featuring traditional Zulu outfits, famous for their beadwork. The rest was stashed in someone’s garage until 2011, when Steven Dubin, an arts administration professor at Columbia’s Teachers College, learned about it. He’s since archived 1,400 negatives, connected with Moodley’s family, and held exhibitions in Johannesburg and Pietermaritzburg. »

« I have an ethical dilemma with this because these were private pictures, and these are now being made public. I’ve learned that the people who are most against me showing these are the people who are most removed from the experience. In other words, white liberals get upset about these photographs, but no Indians or Africans have gotten upset at all. In fact, they are thrilled to see their histories being shown. It’s [a dilemma that] can’t be easily settled, and it’s deeper because I’m a white man. I’m not a South African. »

« On Wednesday 29 June, the musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac confirmed the acquisition of a set of 69 photographs (vintage and modern prints) and documents by James Barnor, a Ghanaian photographer born in 1929. (…) It was the result of exceptional research in James Barnor’s personal archive by Christine Barthe, head of the Unité Patrimoniale des collections photographiques at the musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac. »

« A selection of 45 photographs—some of them depicting nightlife in the Malian capital of Bamako, some shot in the studio—are to go on show at Somerset House on 6 October (until 15 January 2017) to coincide with 1:54 contemporary African art fair (until 9 October). The exhibition is being organised in collaboration with Sidibé’s Paris dealer, André Magnin. »

« Touria El Glaoui, the director of 1:54, said she was thrilled to announce “such a strong programme”. She highlighted the Sidibé show, describing him as “such a pivotal figure in African art in the 1960s and an enduring influence on young photographers today”. »

« Within Creative Africa, curator Peter Barberie has brought together a trio of veteran African-born photographers under the aegis of Three Photographers/Six Cities, which attempts to visualize a wide spectrum of quotidian life on the continent, but does so through small moments rather than wide angles.

(…) Ultimately, Three Photographers/Six Cities is a crucial proposition in its willingness to offer a more sustained and open-ended meditation on one dimension of contemporary landscapes, rather than issue generalizations, theoretical or otherwise. It also highlights the work of West African photographers who are far less known in America than their South African counterparts, such as Zanele Muholi or Pieter Hugo, who tend to have more gallery-level visibility here. »

« One of the highlights of ‘Swinging Bamako’ is the wall that displays rarely seen official photos of Modibo Keïta posing, right when the Cold War was simmering, with prominent Asian Communist leaders like Ho Chi Minh, Kim Il-sung and Mao Zedong. Ultimately, many historians feel that Modibo, a direct descendent of the founders of the Mali Empire, was just a realist who sensed that young Africans could gain knowledge and emancipation by affirming their third-world identity and forging alliances with nations that understood that there could be a new vision for a united Africa. »

« More rigorous and revealing is the provocatively titled Tear My Bra, in which Azu Nwagbogu, curator of the Lagos photo festival, illustrates the subtle ways in which Nollywood, the booming Nigerian film industry, has impacted on visual storytelling in Africa, in the work of photographers such as Omar Victor Diop and Karl Ohiri.

Kenyan-based Sarah Waiswa won the Discovery award for her series, Stranger in a Familiar Land, which looks at the persecution of albinos in sub-Saharan Africa. It is a dreamlike take on a harsh subject with a single female model posed against the bright skies and rubbish-strewn Kibera slums. A brave attempt to move outside a traditional documentary but one that, for me, seemed oddly over-staged.

« “It has been a gradual process, but some countries in Africa were doing well when I launched the gallery and I think people read the signs,” said Maria Varnava, owner and director of Tiwani Contemporary, which represents artists including Ethiopian painter Robel Temesgen and Nigerian photographer Andrew Esiebo. “What’s really interesting is both the development of discourse around art from the region, as well as the market,” Varnava noted. “On the African continent you have new biennials, not-for-profit and commercial galleries, a new museum of contemporary art in Cape Town, as well as new fairs in Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa. This will build a strong local market long-term, in terms of collectors and an art ecosystem, and that’s good news globally.” She said that while climbing auction prices were positive, they haven’t necessarily always reflected the primary market value of an artist’s work. »

« Historically, I think of W.E.B. Du Bois’s “American Negro” installation, presented at the 1900 Paris Exposition, one of the most significant photographic interventions. Du Bois was effectively the first black curator of photography. His project was driven by an undeniable humanist concern and an undying belief in the visual as an effective political tool to institute social change. Together with others who shared his mission, Du Bois strategically deployed 363 photographs to stage a claim for the humanity of the black subject. And, in that moment, he was perhaps also the first scholar-activist who turned to photography as a campaign tool presenting visual “evidence” en masse.

(…) One key aspect of our continuous curatorial responsibility lies in preserving the legacy of certain influential artists, such as the work of Rotimi Fani-Kayode (1955-1989), a founding member and the first chair of Autograph ABP, or that of Maud Sulter (1960–2008), a pioneering curator, writer, and artist whose work we recently presented at Rivington Place, and at this year’s Rencontres d’Arles in France. Without sustained advocacy, these artists are invisible, their contributions erased, forgotten, which is, ironically, a prevalent theme in their work. Part of our mission is to inspire other institutions take notice, and consider these and other artists’ work in their collecting and exhibiting frameworks. »

« Invisible Borders is an artistic remapping of ideas, geographies and images. Photographers, writers and filmmakers came together to explore new territories. This happened at a time when people were just recognising the potential of social media and the Internet across Africa. Right from day one we were blogging while travelling, sharing art with people on a day-to-day basis. »

The Ttabo: film and book. More stories from Kaddu Wasswa and his Archive

« The Ttabo / If you are not in here no one will know you are out there follows up on the publication of The Kaddu Wasswa Archive in 2010. This book presents, in photographs and documents, a story of three people meeting and getting to know each other. Embedded in this story you get to know a version of the life of one of the three people. It shows some of the challenges Kaddu Wasswa had to deal with in his life, and gives you a peep at the successes of his efforts through the attractive photographs made of the activities of his Youth Groups Club. »